Vijay Mohan
Chandigarh, February 6
Four new sainik schools, which serve as feeder institutes for the armed forces, will come up in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, taking the total of such schools to eight.
Two sainik schools are expected to come up in Haryana and one each in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt informed Parliament on Monday. These are among 18 new schools that have so far been approved for setting up in different parts of the country.
At present, two sainik schools are located at Kunjpura near Karnal and Rewari in Haryana, one at Kaputhala in Punjab and one at Sujanpur Tira in Himachal Pradesh. Existing sainik schools are funded jointly by the central government and the state government as per laid down guidelines.
One new co-educational sainik school in partnership mode with civilian organisations has been approved and operational in Patiala district of Punjab, Bhatt said in response to a written question on sainik schools by Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha.
The central government had earlier approved an initiative to set up 100 new sainik schools across the country in a partnership mode with NGOs, trusts, private schools or state government schools, after they sign a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the Sainik Schools Society.
At present, there are a total of 33 sainik schools existing under the erstwhile pattern in 24 states and union territories. These are exclusively run by the Sainik Schools Society under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence and do not have any association with civilian institutes as in the case of new sainik schools.
According to the minister’s reply, a proposal for establishment of a sainik school at Gurdaspur in Punjab on the erstwhile pattern of the schools, was forwarded by the state government to the Ministry of Defence.
It was decided by the Sainik Schools Society that before considering the proposal of the state government for opening of a new sainik school at Gurdaspur, under the erstwhile pattern, the state government should sign an MoA with the Society in respect of the existing sainik school in Kapurthala, which is already functional.
Conceived in 1961, sainik schools take in students at the level of Class-VI and prepare them mentally and physically for entry into the National Defence Academy (NDA). Their alumni have attained the highest positions in the armed forces as well as the civil society.
The total strength of students in sainik schools is over 17,000. Admission of girl cadets was first stated on pilot basis in Sainik School, Chhingchhip, during the 2018-19 academic year as per a policy promulgated by the Society
After the success of pilot project, all existing sainik schools are now admitting girls up to 10 percent of vacancies in Class VI or 10 girls, whichever is higher. All new sainik schools will also be co-educational.